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Do brands have a role to play in improving people's well-being or have people become so cynical of brand communications that nothing companies do can have an impact? Havas Media's Meaningful Brands research, for instance, shows that Europeans believe that only 5% of brands make their lives notably better and wouldn't be bothered if 93% of brands disappeared entirely.

However, the Guardian's Mood of the Nation survey shows that people do care about companies and brands. They have high expectations of how companies should behave, rewarding brands that meet these expectations and feeling worried about less than desirable business behaviours.

Mood of the Nation surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2,141 adults in the UK and found that three quarters of people were concerned about unethical business practices, such as tax avoidance, irresponsible treatment of employees and the environment.

As a result, consumers now place ever-increasing demands on businesses, with 79% saying that a company should "know and respect its customers", 71% wanting to see companies "behaving responsibly towards the community", 64% "communicating a clear set of values", 62% demanding transparency and 61% "responsibility towards the environment". Challenging.

The good news is that according to the research, 67% of the British population and an even higher proportion (79%) of the Guardian's audience can name a brand that makes them happy. In answers to an open-ended question "Are there any brands that make you happy?", some 600 brands have been named.

The top 20 brands that make people happy. Photograph: Guardian

How do they make people happy? "Ethical" was stated as one of the reasons on par with quality, products and service.

The role of brands Photograph: Guardian

Another bit of good news is that brands can apparently "activate happiness". They can influence people's sense of well-being by encouraging them to be more active in all aspects of their life. The research found that being active (as people, consumers and citizens) was the biggest contributing factor to wellbeing: 74% of people with above average levels of being active were happy.

And there are rewards for brands too. Happier people are more active as consumers: 86% of people with above average levels of happiness are active. These consumers are also more likely to be happy with brands, while disempowered people are least likely.

The Mood of the Nation survey segments the UK population based on the level of personal happiness, how engaged they are with the world around them, and how active they are as people, consumers and citizens.